


Mother and Daughter

by odair4



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post-Mockingjay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-05 12:43:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4180281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odair4/pseuds/odair4
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katniss has not seen her mother in years, but after an injury, Peeta declares her in need of her mother's medical expertise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mother and Daughter

I stoke the canvas with slight movements, a brush doused in vibrant orange paint in my hand.

I pause, taking a second to study the sunset taking place just outside the window, before I choose which shade of violet to add to my own recreation of it.

A sudden violent crash precedes a louder one and interrupts the air of serenity in this workspace of mine, but I choose to ignore it for the time being. I haven't had much time to myself to paint with the little handfuls that are my son and daughter discovering their ability to be wildly rambunctious just recently, so I choose to carry on with this piece.

It's all starting to come together just as Willow bursts through the back kitchen door. I don't recall seeing her little seven year old legs ever carry her this fast.

She hastily brushes a wisp of dark hair out of her face and composes herself.

"Mommy fell out of the tree!"

"Is she okay?" I ask anyway while I jog over to the door and step out into the chilly air that comes along with every late October. I pull my jacket tighter around me and let my gait break into a full on sprint when I catch sight of my wife struggling to get herself upright.

I take note of a metal pail a few feet from her side, surely what had caused the noise prior.

I rush to her side, and regardless of what this headstrong girl has to say about it, I grab her hands in mine and attempt to yank her up into my arms. I know she'll claim to be able to take care of it herself, but I will always go out of my way to make sure she feels protected, like what she's done for others her entire life. That's what she and I do nowadays; we protect each other.

But before I can make much of an effort to pull her up by her arms, a sharp shriek escapes her mouth and I pull away.

"I'm so sorry, are... you- what hurts? Where did you fall from?" I interrogate.

Katniss feebly points to a branch in our apple tree, high above any height I could ever reach myself, even if I had two strong legs to climb with.

"I fell on my leg, and... I can't really move it." She reveals.

I crouch down to take a look at her leg, and it looks anything but okay. Even from beneath her pants it looks as if another joint has grown in the middle of her shin, allowing her leg to bend in two places... although clearly that's not the case. I can't bring myself to do anything but avert my eyes. Katniss is biting the collar of her leather jacket so hard that she could tear through the thing any second. And I know I should act fast.

I bend down to pull her up again, this time much more cautiously, and slide her onto my back. She's never weighed very much at all, and that came in handy when I transported her to the couch in the living room.

Still, I'm not completely sure of what to do, so as I watch Katniss writhe around and try to get as comfortable as she can in that condition, I walk over to the telephone in the kitchen and hesitantly dial Mrs. Everdeen's number. I haven't seen her in years. Very, very many years. Neither has Katniss, actually. Being the healer that she once was, I'm hoping a visit from her will prevent us from having to take a trip to an actual doctor.

She picks up after the very first ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mrs. Everdeen, I, um, how well would you say you are when it comes to dealing with broken legs?"

"Who's calling me?"

I pause. "This is Peeta. Peeta Mellark. Do you think you might want to come help out your daughter?"

"Peeta, who are you on the phone with?" Katniss squeaks through gritted teeth from the other room.

"Uh... a doctor." I say, afraid she'll push her mother away as always.

"No, no, we'll give it a few days and if it gets any worse, that's the only way you're getting me to see a doctor. All I need right now is a painkiller. Quick." She says, and I wonder if she's just delusional from how much that must hurt and isn't aware of the gut wrenching severity of her deformed leg or what, but if I don't have someone look at that injury of hers she'll be out of commission for quite a while longer than necessary.

I open the cabinet door to dig out a bottle of the strongest pain medicine we have. I can only imagine what she's feeling in her leg right now, and I can't imagine it would be pleasant.

"Trust me, this is a good doctor, we won't even have to go anywhere, she'll come here." I say. At least I hope she'll agree to come.

"I'm going to need your address, but yes, I'll be there. Give me some time to gather my things and I'll be on my way." Mrs. Everdeen says through the phone. I give her the requested information and she tells me she'll be here within an hour.

I tread the floor and sit beside Katniss on the sofa. Willow watches attentively from the entryway to the living room. I smooth back her hair from my wife's forehead with my cold hand, and watch as her eyes dart from beneath her eyelids.

"Willow, get a glass of water for your mother, please?" I ask of her, and she eagerly runs off to complete her mission.

I carefully lay a large ice pack across Katniss' leg, trying not to cause her any more pain, but she opens her mouth as if to scream nevertheless, no sound escaping; however.

Willow hands me a cold glass filled to the brim, which I tip until the water is flowing into Katniss' mouth, and I place one round pill onto her tongue so she can swallow it.

"What were you doing up in that tree anyway, are you mad?" I ask, no accusatory tone in my voice.

"The best apples... at the top. You make the best apple pies... it's about time for one."

A grin overtakes my solemn expression, and I aim it at her, although her eyes are closed.

"Katniss, Katniss, Katniss." I tease, "I agree my pies are just to die for, aren't they? But they're nothing to be risking your life for, sweetheart."

She doesn't bother to verbally respond, but the slightest of smirks is visible on her pink lips.

I sit their with her until a rapping on the front door startles me.

None other than Mrs. Everdeen is standing there, looking prim and proper in a crisp dress printed with flowers. It's more suitable for spring apparel if you ask me, but it almost pains me; how much effort she put into preparing herself to see a daughter she hasn't in an uncountable amount of years. Her hair is delicately braided and twisted into a neat bun, and the slightest bit of makeup accentuates her face that has aged surprisingly gracefully.

"My daughter needs me?" She asks, as if to make sure of it before setting foot into our home.

"Very much, yes. Thank you for coming, she's in the living room."

I lead my mother in law to Katniss and watch as she takes in seemingly every detail of the house her daughter and I have worked hard to make suitable for our children. Our children. Her mother knows nothing of them. Her mother knows nothing of them and it has been seven, almost eight years, since Willow graced us with her birth.

Mrs. Everdeen lays down her medical box and kneels beside the couch Katniss lays on. I stand in the doorway, not wanting to directly disturb either of them, but desperately wanting to see what is to unfold.

"Katniss, honey, wake up please. It's... it's your mother." She says, her words almost a whisper.

She reaches out a hand and gives her daughter's shoulder a little shake. Her eyes flutter open and quickly find themselves glaring at Mrs. Everdeen, who offers a weak smile and has to wipe away a tear that has appeared on her cheek. I find myself doing the same.

"Mom?" Katniss says, and suddenly I do not see my wife, I see five year old Katniss with her two braids instead of one, each crafted by the hands of this woman right here. I see a girl eager to return home and greet her mother and father and sister with a kiss on the cheek. I see one who's innocence has not been torn from her by the wrath of the Hunger Games. Yet. And it pains me to an immeasurable extent to see what I see now.

No further words are exchanged between the two in front of me, but the event that is taking place, a grown woman meeting her own mother for the first time since she was a teenager, is silently beautiful.

In a matter of time, Katniss' leg is wrapped in a hard fabric and she's instructed to stay off of it at all costs for these next few weeks, and to tell me to keep her supply of ice coming constantly. She's also advised to keep the medicine cabinet stocked. And to not hesitate to contact her if things don't seem to be healing correctly.

"And, Katniss, it was so wonderful to see you again."

Katniss nods quizzically; her eyes glassy with unfallen tears. I wonder if she thinks she's dreaming or something like that, making up this illusion of her mother being able to take care of her once more.

Mrs. Everdeen slowly stands to exit the room, but I counter her intentions of leaving.

"Hey, why don't you stay for dinner. And... some pie after that. Stay overnight if you'd like. I think it would be very nice if Katniss gets to see you in the morning, when she's not groggy from this medicine. To be honest, I'm not sure she completely registers the fact that you're actually here with her right now."

She pauses to take in my words. "I don't want to intrude."

"Please. Stay." I do want her to. I want Katniss to see her again, too.

"Thank you, Peeta. Thank you so, so much." She says, and gives me a tight lipped smile.

"Of course, Mrs. Everdeen, and-" I begin, but my words are cut off by little footsteps padding throughout the house. My children's faces peer out from behind the door I had left ajar, and Katniss' mother's own goes white at the sight of the two of them.

"Who is this, daddy?" Willow questions. Rye pulls his thumb from his mouth, and he scrunches his brow in a confused manner.

Before I can answer, Mrs. Everdeen trots over to where they stand and kneels down to match their statures.

"I'm your grandmother." Is what spills from her trembling lips. Her bright blue eyes visibly well up with fresh tears. "I didn't know I had grandchildren. You both are just adorable, what's your name?"

"I'm Willow and this is Rye." Says Willow. I've always admired how she's never been very shy in front of people. She takes after me in that sense.

"Hey, why don't all three of you go outside and pick some apples from the tree while I make dinner?" I suggest.

A grateful smile is the response I get from my mother in law, and she ushers them out the front door.

Today has been such a blur. I look at my wristwatch and find it already to be six in the evening, so I venture into the kitchen and set some wild turkey roasting in the oven and a pot of chicken broth on the stove.

Katniss doesn't stir, I guess the painkillers knocked her out. It has to be for the better though, I know I wouldn't want to sustain an injury like that and be awake. As if to remind me of that irony, I accidentally hit my artificial leg against the kitchen counter, and the metal on wood noise is finally what wakes Katniss.

"Peeta?" She calls, still dazed from her sleep, from the living room.

I walk briskly to where she lays.

"I had the craziest dream. That doctor you called turned out to be my mother! Thank God it wasn't... I don't know how I'd be able to face her after all that's happened since the war..."

"Katniss?"

"Yes?"

"That was your mother before. Actually, she's outside finishing your task of picking apples with Rye and Willow as we speak. She's staying for dinner, too. Maybe overnight even." I confess.

Katniss collapses back onto the couch cushion. "Oh. Well... that's nice of you to have invited her. Is she mad at me?"

"No, why would she be?"

"I don't know, I'm all she has left after..." she doesn't finish that sentence, but cringes anyway at the thought of what I know to be the passing of her little sister, "and I've never bothered to contact her. Not even after I birthed the next closest things to family she has. That's not true, I actually just could never bear the thought of trying to start a conversation with her! What do I even say to her over dinner?"

"You're her daughter, you'll find something to say." I try to say, although I'm not sure I entirely believe even myself there, she's never had the strongest of bonds with that woman.

Dinner comes and goes. We dine over the turkey and broth, and after that my apple pie, which I have to say was delectable. The five of us eat around the coffee table in the living room, with Rye sitting cradled in Katniss' arm next to her. Few words pass between any of us. Well, except for Willow babbling onto her grandmother about all that she must have missed.

When the grandfather clock in the corner of the room sounds at eight o'clock, I take my reluctant-to-go daughter and son in my arms and carry them off to bed.

"She'll be here tomorrow, don't worry!" I reassure them when they try and tell me that this could be their once in a lifetime opportunity to converse with Mrs. Everdeen.

First, I tuck Rye tightly into his covers, and then move to Willow, who convinces me to read her a story from her bookshelf. It's an old one, one salvaged from Katniss' house actually, I think, but we pursue it.

All the while, while left alone in the living room with no one for company but each other, I hear vibrant conversation pass between reunited mother and daughter. They laugh and they cry together, and I'm guessing all worries Katniss had about being forced to talk to that woman have since dissipated. The sound of them together is beautiful.

So much so, that it makes me wish my saint of a father could've been here today, to see everything that Mrs. Everdeen gets to see. So he and I could trade stories as they are.


End file.
